On the road

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Kansas

 
Friend I met in the camp


When we left Amarillo we went by an oil refinery.

refinery


 There was a smell of oil in the air, I really didn‘t like it. Guess you would get use to it. We have seen oil wells and oil towers in fields in 3 or 4 states now. We smelled a lot of stock yards on our way through Texas. Also there were a lot of dead skunks killed along the road. Glad we didn’t hit one. We saw some antelope in some fields too. I even saw a coyote. We went through some of Kansas flat lands where you could see for miles and miles. We finally drove out of the flat lands and into areas where they had small hill sides a lot prettier areas with trees and nice farms. We saw one field that had cow elk in it. Not sure if they were raising them or if they were wild.



                              Cheney Reservoir



We camped over night at Cheney Reservoir. It was a pretty Reservoir. Not very many people around. The water was not turned on yet. But they did have power. They had some beautiful bright pink trees in bloom there.






We left there and stopped for a break in a parking lot. It was a good thing as one of our tires looked low. Charlie kicked it and the air started coming out. We had to change it. Just feel so lucky we were off the road and didn’t have a blow out.



Sunset in Kansas
 We found a nice campground down the road to stay a few days and check on tires. We went into Topeka Kansas and found some tires.We will get new tires for the fifth wheel on our way out of town. While in Topeka Kansas we went to the capitol.

going to the capital building





 It is a very pretty building and I went inside and looked around. They are working on it and some parts were blocked off.Lots of brass inside.


white lilac bush

cherry blossoms
 The tulips and some other flowers and trees are in bloom. This year has ot warmer for different parts of the country. My dad was born in Caldwell Kansas in 1926 and moved to Idaho/Oregon area when he was 9. He told us girls about having a tornado shelter on the farm he was raised on and how he hated to run in there when a storm came.
They have one in this park.




lilac
 
Tornado shelter in campground


 Back on the road more to come . Ginny

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Amarillo

We are in Amarillo Texas. We stayed a week at Amarillo Ranch RV park. It is a very nice RV park with a indoor heated pool and hot tub. I have taken advantage of the pool.
We went to the Big Texan and had a nice dinner. We rode in the limo from the RV park.
Charlie had a nice steak and I had BBQ pork ribs. The food was fantastic. It was a lot of fun. They have a 72oz steak and trimmings, if you eat it in a hour you get it free. There is a camera on the person eating and you can watch it on your computer. Well Charlie called his friend John and he turned on his computer so he could see Charlie on stage with a napkin that said hi John.It was a lot of fun. We took some pictures.

 We both sat in a extra big rocking chair and got our picture taken,
you know things are bigger in Texas.




 We took home enough food for a couple meals. Then Charlie went down and got some Rocky Mt Oysters a couple days later.




We went to the Palo Duro Canyon State Park. It is 120 miles long and 800 feet deep and is the second-largest canyon in the United States.

 Palo Duro Canyon State park is more than 30,000 acres One of the nations most magnificent scenic byways. We enjoyed the vistas of color and beauty. The different geologic layers of beautiful colors.






We went to Amarillo Zoo. It was a small zoo.

                               


 It was very clean and well taken care of. We saw some Fantastic animals. One of my favorites was a Serral cat.

 Well I am a cat lover so there were Bobcats, Tigers, Lions, Lioness, Wallaby’s, Black handed spider monkeys and lots more. It was a lot of fun.
We also went to a Cadillac Ranch.

 The worlds only! Ten Cadillac’s buried nose down in a field at the same angle as the Cheops Pyramid.

They are in a farmers field and you can paint them all you want. People were all over the place painting all kinds of things on them.
We will be headed toward Kansas. More to come.
Ginny


Back on the road




We left Lake Charles March 12th . We were there for 5 months. We enjoyed our stay. It feels nice to be back on the road I always enjoy all the new places and new things to see.
 

Our first two nights back on the road was out of Jefferson Texas. Corps of Engineers park on Lake O’ The Pines. It was a very pretty campground / lake and we were lucky to get a spot there as spring break had just started . We drove around and went to the dam. There were a number of people fishing and I saw a man with some crappie.





They were quite large and real thick would have liked to catch some of them and eat them. We were leaving the next day so we didn‘t do any fishing.

Lake Texoma

We drove into Oklahoma where we stayed at another Engineer park on Lake Texoma for 6 nights. It was close to Durant Oklahoma. We saw all kinds of horse statues in the town and some were made with scrap medal. 

 One looked like a Ford tailgate. I have been walking the campground to try to get some needed exercise. It is a nice park overlooking the lake.Where there are some pretty sunsets.  


 We stayed a extra day as a storm was coming from the direction we were headed. It had lightning and thunder so loud it scared you out of bed then the endless rain. The host came down to tell us that if a tornado came to come wake him and he would unlock the bathrooms. Why he just didn‘t unlock them for the people I don’t know. Well I am very thankful one didn’t come and the news said we could get some hail the size of golf balls. Glad it went some where else. Reba and I didn’t get much sleep that night. I had my nose to the window and Reba walked the 5th wheel. The next day I was ready to get on the road but Charlie told me the news said there was more storm to come. I wanted to crawl in a hole. Well he looked it up on the internet it looked like it was gone. So we got on the road, thank goodness!
We then drove to Vernon, Texas where I was a able to do the laundry and get a good night sleep.

Then back on the road. We are in Amarillo Texas for a week now and have some things to see. More to come. Ginny

Thursday, February 23, 2012

More Mardi Gras Celebrations Lake Charles



We are still in Lake Charles Louisiana. We have been here since October enjoying the winter .We have enjoyed the fresh gulf shrimp, black eye peas, jambalaya, boudin, gumbo, and many more southern dishes. We have even tried alligator on a stick and it was very good. We have gone to some of the Mardi Gras celebrations. We went to the Royal Gala and seen some of this years costumes they are beautiful

















. We have gone to see some of the parades where they throw lots of beads. Some are at night and the pictures don’t turn out.
We saw a lighted boat parade that was very beautiful on Lake Charles they even throw beads to the people on the shore.


Mardi Gras is music, parades, picnics, floats, excitement ... and one big holiday in Louisiana.








  





The schools are closed for three days. Everyone is wearing purple, green, and gold; and adorned with long beads caught from the beautiful floats. During Mardi Gras, all of the businesses and roads are practically shut down -- people are walking everywhere and meeting new friends. People are dressed in crazy costumes, kids are everywhere, and they love it! People bbq on the street on Fat Tuesday waiting for the parade. We saw some beautiful costumes and enjoyed all the beads that we caught some are very beautiful. We will be leaving this area around the12th next month.








Not all the beads we got .More the next day.


More to come Ginny